Star Wars: Frontal Assault
by Animalsandadjectives
Summary: Join a new padawan and her Master as they travel through the galaxy to break the Separatists defenses and save the universe, one distraction at a time.
1. Chapter 1

I walked sophisticatedly down the long corridors of the central command station my master and I were stationed at for a rescue mission on Alderaan. It would seem that I had misplaced my troops for the land assault part of the rescue mission, or what my master and I liked to call the distraction. From about a meter or two away, I could hear my troops laughing and talking and having a grand old time as they prepared for battle. As I continued to stride down the unending paths through our station my millennium blonde hair flew behind me in an almost graceful manor and as I stopped in front of the nearest door on my right the part that was not held up by my hair ornament fell back down to the bottom of my shoulder blades. The door flew open from the bottom and as I walked in, all of my troops stood and saluted.

"Commander," One of the clones began. "We await your orders."

I smiled at how formal they were being with me, but I tried to keep it hidden. Over the year and a half that I've been a padawan, and the eight months I've been a commander, they have never been this formal. I rested my hands on a nearby table top and looked at them, my hazel eyes glinting with extreme excitement and the clear gems that lined the outside of my eyes glittered.

"I hope you're all ready, boys," I put a challenging tone in my voice and I let my tugging smile show through my delicate and pale features. "Because we're moving out!"

"Sir, yes sir!" They all answered in unison, and saluted again. The few of my men that did not have their helmets on were smiling at my expression.

"So put your helmets on and lets get out there!" I put my fist in the air and everyone else followed in my example, cheering loudly. "Okay everyone file out and take your sectors to the docking bay. Further instruction will be given then."

As everyone left, I took the liberty of grabbing myself a nice sized blaster, and clipped it to my black boot. One of my men stopped just before leaving and turned around.

"Permission to speak, sir," He had his helmet on, but I could sense he was beaming.

I looked up after clipping the gun to my boot and smiled. "Permission granted, and for starters you can tell me whats up with all this formal talk and saluting and stuff, Mac," Mac is the Red leader of my team.

He chuckled. "See we just thought it'd be fun to try somethin' new, Sir."

I laughed and pushed him out. "Get outta here, Red leader!" I rolled my eyes and headed in the opposite direction of the docking bay, towards the briefing room where my master, Varian Kai, and the admiral were waiting along with two other Clone commanders for a quick review of our plan.

"Bout time you got here, Mars," My master greeted me in his usual upbeat tone.

"It's not like I'm late," I defended.

"Oh and you're never late," He continued sarcastically. Before I could get another word in, the admiral got our attention by clearing his throat.

The two clone commanders were chuckling at my master's last remark, but were soon hushed by the admiral as we were.

"Sorry, admiral," One of them apologized.

"Quite..." He started a little skeptically. Admiral Quar never agreed with the way my master and I ran things. He favored order a little more than my master did, and a lot more than I did. "Now for the frontal assault-"

"Distraction," My master and I both corrected instinctually without caring to look up from the blue holographic diagram in front of us that was projected onto a circular table in the middle of the briefing room. Both Master Kai and I knew that this bothered the admiral to quite an extent, but we just thought it was funny. I let another small smile grace my shinny bright pearl pink lips and continued to listen to our battle strategy.

"Commander Beto will assemble her squadron of Elites here," Admiral Quar pointed to me momentarily, then to a forest clearing just outside the Alderaanian Palace on the hologram. "While they serve as our main..." he paused, choosing his next words carefully. "...distraction, Commander Kai will lead a squadron of five or six troopers into the palace to rescue the princess."

"What about the rest of the troopers?" I asked curiously. "You can't expect just me and my men to fight off an entire army of tin cans."

The admiral sighed. "Commander Sail and his fleet will be joining you on the battle field, and Commander Blade will be serving as your back up, if needed."

Everyone nodded.

"I can't control the way everything is done around here, so I can only tell you where you are stationed for this rescue mission. The rest will be entirely up to you, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," The two clones said as my master and I just nodded.

"Then good luck to you all," The admiral finished, and dismissed us to the docking bay.

"You were pretty good back there, Mars," My master complimented me as we walked over to where our troops were getting ready to disembark.

"Well I did learn from the best, Master," With that we separated and I headed over to my team.

"Ok, troopers, listen up!" I shouted to my squad. "These clankers aren't going to give up without a fight, so be ready for anything."

"Sir, yes, sir!" I see they were still having their fun.

"Before you go out there are a few rules you must be aware about. Master Kai will be inside retrieving the Princess from the Separatists, so absolutely no explosives near the palace wall. Second and finally, there is to be no disorganization. I must know where each and everyone of you are today so that we don't leave anyone behind. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, now I want the red and green sectors to go to the first gunship and blue and yellow sectors to go to the second. My red and green leaders will go to the fighters and the blue and yellow leaders will take four troopers and board the walkers. Let's move out!"

My team was soon ready and off. I stood in the second gunship with my blue and yellow sectors. To give further orders, I touched a circular button on my thin black com link that was connected to the dusty blue arm guard on my right arm.

"Fighters and walkers, I want you in first. This should give Commander Kai just enough time to sneak in without too many of the droids seeing them. The blue and yellow sectors and I will follow shortly after to make our plan more believable, then red and green sectors will follow making our distraction a little more...distracting as we go along. By this time Commander Kai should be at the princesses holding cell. We have to keep the droids occupied enough so they don't notice their biggest bargaining chip coming and going." I didn't know I could talk that much. Honestly I had no idea, but the instructions weren't over yet. If my master taught me anything, it was that careful planning is not enough. Communication is the key to success on the battle field.

"I want both my fighters and walkers advancing now," I said into the com link.

"Yes, Commander," was the response I got back from Mac who was my red leader. He was in charge of one of the fighters. I also got clearance from my two walkers and I watched intently as they advanced on the droid army positioned outside the main wall. I couldn't see the enemy that easily, but that's just how I wanted it, and I was hoping that the enemy hadn't seen our gunships yet either.

"Gunships fall back over the forest. I want you in as low as you can get without damaging yourselves," as before, my orders were followed to a 'T'.

Just then my com link light flashed. My masters voice came over the com link. "Marsena, what's your position?"

"My squad and I are still aboard the gunships, Master. I sent the two fighters and walkers ahead, and I'm about ready to take about half my troops after them."

"Why only half?" My master sounded a little bewildered.

"Just trust me with my troops will you, and stick to the plan..." there was an awkward silence. "Master, just...please...trust me, okay?"

"Okay Mars, just...be careful alright?"

"Got it! This is Commander Beto, over and out!" I signed off with my master and continued to give orders to my troops.

"Red and Green, wait here until I give the signal."

"No problem," was the response I got back. After turning the com link off, I turned to my Blue and Yellow sectors.

"Ok, from here we jump, we don't want those tin cans to know we're here just yet."

"Those clankers won't know what hit 'em," one of my troops made a fist and smashed it into the palm of his other hand.

"Exactly," I agreed. I turned my com on one last time, this time paging my message to my troops and my master, "Until the battle field, it's all stealth mode."


	2. Chapter 2

I grabbed the belt around my waist and jumped out of the ship. Spinning over in mid air so that my back was facing the ground, I deployed my grappling hook. It shot straight up and latched onto the hull of the gunship. My troops watched as it zipped past their faces and I stopped falling all together, but only for a moment. As I continued my dissent, I was oblivious to the sound of my grappling cord snapping. I started to let out a scream, but remembered we were on a stealth mission for the time being, so screaming was not an option. My troops were on their way down, but I was falling to fast for them.

"Master is not going to be happy about this!" I muttered to myself. Then it hit me. I leaned over to my boot and snatched the blaster off. I hastily grabbed the grappling hook in it and started to attach it. As I scrambled to set up the blaster for its grapple setting, my finger accidentally hit the trigger and I fired a red light up into the air. (Thankfully away from all my men.)

"Whoops! Let's...try that again!" I plugged in the grappling hook and aimed it at the ship. Releasing the trigger once more, this time, to my relief, a silent grapple tightened itself around the ship just in the nick of time.

I hung from the blaster, my eyes shut and breathing steadily.

I had almost become an inter-galactic, light-saber wielding, padawan pancake on the ground of Alderaan. That's not looking like the greatest mission report in the galaxy...

"Who woulda known?" The Yellow leader, Sky, chuckled as he dangled from his blaster beside me. "Commander Beto is bad with blasters!"

"I knew I brought this thing for a reason..." I mumbled to myself. As I opened my eyes headed for the safety of the ground. Just before I reached the surface of Alderaan, I looked up at my squadron and smiled. "Now you guys know why I use a light-saber!" I shouted up.

My team and I eventually all made it down, and headed though the forest to the front of the palace. We sat and watched for a little while as the two walkers and the two fighters caused some damage.

"Alright, boys," I started to walk out of the forest. "It's distraction time!"

"Hey, isn't that a Jedi?" One of the smaller droids guarding the palace gate asked.

"Yeah!" the other one said. "Blast her!"

I dipped forward as they began shooting and did a front flip into the air avoiding every shot they took. I activated my blue light-saber and slashed the two trigger happy droids in half. I landed gracefully on my feet and continued slicing through the thin layers of what the Separatists called "defense". My team had already engaged in battle and we seemed to be winning, until the Sepratists brought out a new toy. A BIG, new toy. I jumped up and used a droid's chest as a platform. As I dislocated it's head, I propelled myself into a backflip, and cut another droid in half.

With this new weapon out, I was going to need to call in some reinforcements.

"This is Commander Beto to Gunship, we are in need of reinforcements, repeat, in need of reinforcements."

"Copy that, and we're on our way."

By this time my team was on the defensive, or at least I was. I couldn't make and moves and talk at the same time so I had to block shots using my light-saber as a shield.

"Mars, what's your status?" My master's voice came in over the com-link.

"Distraction is in progress, Master," I replied.

"What's that tone?" My master asked, a hint of suspicion in his teasing tone.

"What tone?" I asked.

"That tone."

"Oh, this tone? It's my, "I'm trying to concentrate on not dying" tone."

My master chuckled slightly. "Ok, ok, I'll see you on the next flight outta here, Mars."

I switched my com-link off and went back on the offensive. Soon after, my Red and Green squadron came to our aid.

Now that I knew the droid problem was being taken care of, I needed to concentrate on that weapon. First off, I didn't know what it did. Disadvantage number one. I did, however have two sky high advantages.

"I'm going to demobilize that weapon closest to the wall, but I'll need your help to do it, Mac. I need you and Green leader to distract it while I go in for the kill."

"Copy that Commander."

A droid ran past me, toward the weapon, so I grabbed it around its neck area to stop it.

"No! No!" It cried.

I cut off its legs and they started running away, but two seconds later they were lying on the ground. I dropped the rest of the droid and suddenly heard a loud bang.

"Hey! I said no explosives!" I cried over the com-link.

"That...wasn't us, sir..." Mac answered tentatively, knowing I was about ready to go off like a bomb myself. If my orders aren't followed, I tend to get a little frustrated.

"Watch out!" Before I could comprehend what was happening I was tackled to the ground.

Milliseconds later, a fighter crashed to the ground right were I was standing. I sat on the ground, my eyes wide. My master stood beside me and helped me to my feet.

"Need a hand?" He asked smiling. I stood up an immediately assumed my defense position.

"Master, what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep the remaining droids at bay. "I thought you were rescuing the princess!"

"The princess is gone," Varian confessed. "The Separatists moved her. Somehow they knew we were going to be here," he shouted over the ongoing battle as he, too, had unsheathed his green light-saber and stared defending himself from the droids blasters.

"Then we've just waisted time here!" I shouted, growing a little more frustrated.

"It would seem that way..." My master sounded like he was agreeing with me, but for teaching purposes, he wasn't going to verbally state that.

"What are we going to do now?!" I asked.

"Retreat. Head back to the station and re-plan our rescue mission."

"But-" I was going to argue, but that bang sound went off again, and one of the walkers collapsed and caught fire not too far from us.

"Mars we have to leave now, but it's your call, these aren't my troops," I put my head down and thought to myself for a moment. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, gripping the hilt of my light-saber tighter. If theres one thing I don't like, its retreating, but my master was right. If I wanted my team to survive, I was going to have to do the thing I hated most.

Turning my com-link on I started backing away toward the forest behind me. "Everybody fall back, I want all mobilized stations to go into a full retreat."

Everyone that was left started backing away and soon, everyone was darting back for the gunship through the thick lush forest.

Everytime I'm forced to retreat, I feel like I've lost. I can't stand the thought if losing, but no one is any use dead.


	3. Chapter 3

We reached the command station where the admiral was waiting. I hadn't said a single word since we boarded the gunships. We unloaded, but I noticed that Mac wasn't back yet with the fighter, so instead of storming to my quarters and locking myself in like a little girl, I decided to wait for him to get back at the docking bay.

All the clones went back to their quarters to eat and scrub their weapons, but my master wasn't going to just pack up and leave. He's more of the "Make me leave, I dare you", type.

I stood, my back facing him, looking out over the sunset blanketed landscape.

"Silent the entire trip home? Now come on, we both know that's not like you, Mars," He said crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I'm really not in the mood right now, Master..." I admitted quietly, as I began to slide into a sit on the edge of the dock.

Varian sighed and came to sit next to me. I leaned against the wall and watched intently for any sign of Mac.

"You know, Mars," My master started, looking out over the vast ocean of trees that stood below us. "You don't have to wait here. It might be a while before he gets back. I'll sit here though and call you when he arrives if you want."

I didn't think about it for a second. "I think I'll just wait," I said a little hastily.

My master stood up and sighed again.

"Ok, suit yourself," he started to walk away, but stopped and turned to face me again. "Don't stay up late waiting here, Marsena. You have training in the morning and your still my padawan, so your still my responsibility," Master Kai reminded me yet again that he was responsible for me, so no matter how independent I was, he was the one in charge. "Plus-"

He stopped knowing that I wasn't listening. I could hear a small sigh escape his lips and I heard his footsteps against the metallic floor as he left.

I turned my head to watch him leave, and noticed that just before he left the docking bay, he stopped to talk to one of my troops. I couldn't tell what they were saying on account of the fact I can't read lips and they were out of my hearing range.

I decided that it was probably just business so I turned back to the scene of the setting sun.

* * *

Varian walked up to Kane, one of his padawan's troops, who just happened to be walking by as he left.

"Kane," He said, pausing in front of the clone.

"Yes, Commander," Kane replied.

"Apparently, Mac hasn't come back yet, and Mars insisted on waiting here until he got back, would you keep an eye on her for me?"

"Of course, sir," Kane agreed. "She is quite the dedicated commander."

Varian looked back at his padawan, and gave a small smile. "She sure is...she just...doesn't know when to quit..."

* * *

After the sun set, I was only able to keep my eyes open for roughly an hour. Master isn't going to be too happy that I fell asleep in the docking bay.

After that I'm not sure what happened, I was out for about an hour or two until...

"Commander?"

I jumped up and whipped out my light-saber.

"Mac!" I sighed in relief after I realized who it was. "Glad your back!"

"Why aren't you in your quarters, Mars?" He asked me, a mix between a scolding and teasing tone hung in his voice.

"I was waiting for you to..." I barely got to finish before I yawned. "Get back..."

"Yeah, ok...I'm back now, so get going."

I glared at him, but couldn't help the smile that tugged at my lips.

"Now, Mars," He repeated with the same tone.

"Ok, ok, I'm going!" I held my hands up in defense and walked away, passing Kane as I headed for my quarters.

* * *

Kane was leaning against the wall when Mac passed by.

"How long was she waiting here?" Mac asked Kane, concern glazing every word. Kane looked up.

"Ever since we got back I think..." He stood and put a hand to his chin.

Mac groaned. "That was almost seven hours ago..."

"Where were you anyway?" Kane asked Mac as they walked back to the rehabilitation center.

"Out...uh...runnin' an errand for the admiral."

"The admiral?" Kane sounded suspicious of Mac. "What did the admiral want?"

"It was nothing, really," Mac assured. "Now get some shut eye. We'll have to track down the princess early tomorrow morning if we're gonna have any chance of beatin' the separatists," Mac opened the door to his quarters and shut it before Kane could ask anything else.

* * *

One thing that sucks about my room, is that it's right next to my masters', so if I'm awake, he'll know. I hoped that he was asleep, and crept past his room, staying absolutely silent. I made one wrong move, however, and the floor underneath me creaked just loud enough for my master to hear it. My eyes grew wide and I heard what sounded like movement on the other side of his door. I ran to my door forced it open then slammed it shut behind me.

It was pitch black in my room on account of me not being here all day, but I didn't need the lights on. In fact, because they were off they would-hopefully- give the illusion that I was asleep. From inside my room, I could hear that my master was out in the corridor. I sensed something was up, and then it hit me. My light-saber.

Feeling the right side of my belt I could definitely tell that I had dropped it outside my room.

"_I've got a bad feeling about this..._" I thought to myself, as I pressed my body against the wall just inside my room.

Two seconds later and my door opened in the same slow, sliding manor it always does. I kept my breathing pace slow and steady, and I tried my best to stay quiet.

I could hear my master chuckle faintly to himself, and was caught a little bit off guard at the thought of my small but vital victory.

"Nice try," Varian said aloud. "But you'll have to do better than that," he said it more toward the back of my room, like he thought I was over there. My heart was still racing however, and just when I thought I was safe-

"Oh, and Mars," a blue beam shot out but not two inches away from my neck.

"You might want this back," I could sense the smile on his face and I groaned.

"So close," I whispered to myself.


	4. Chapter 4

"Do you have any idea how late you were out last night, Mars?" Varian asked me as I blocked virtual lasers with my light-saber. For being blind folded and extremely sleep deprived, I was doing pretty well.

"Late, I know, master, but I fell asleep and-"

"No excuses, Mars," My Master sounded a little agitated. After that, neither of us said a word, and I continued my training.

"Commander!" A familiar voice sounded like it was coming closer, but I couldn't loose focus.

"Um...yes?" I managed.

"I was...talking about Commander Kai, Mars," I recognized the voice as Kane's, and nodded.

"Oh..." I blocked a sudden shot, and paused. "then please, continue."

"What in blazes is she doing, anyway?" Kane asked my master in a hushed tone.

"Training," My master responded a little louder. "What do you need?"

My focus was diverted for a split second. Just long enough for a shot of red light to get past my defenses.

"OW!" I shouted holding my arm with one hand and my light-saber in the other. Both my master and Kane turned their attention to me.

"What happened?" My master demanded.

"Are you alright, Mars?" Kane asked.

"That thing, it...it shot me," I managed.

"So? It happens to people all the time, just pay more attention."

"Master...should hurt this bad?" I pulled my hand away from where that thing blasted me. The room went dead silent and the air around us got tense.

I couldn't tell what they were thinking since I was still blind folded, but I could defiantly tell something was wrong. I felt a warm liquid trickle down from my arm.

Another red light shot at me, but this time I sensed it and ducked out of the way.

"Why is that thing trying to shoot me?!" I asked, dodging more red pulses that flew at me at incredible speed.

"We need to turn that thing off!" Kane said.

"Right, Mars it would be best for you to do that, I'll try and hold it off," My master directed. I held my light-saber as tight as I could, but I was quite hard with my wound.

"Sure, master," I began sarcastically as the small floating sphere continued to fire. "Have the blind and wounded girl try to find the control room and shut down the malfunctioning, trigger happy training droid...great plan by the way."

I could only assume that Varian was rolling his eyes. I did ,however, hear Kane chuckle a bit.

"We can always take the blind fold off, Mars..."

"Right, I knew that..." I replied sheepishly. I though for a moment then turned my attention back to Varian.

"I can't take it off," I said simply.

"Yes you can, don't make me do everything for you," My master complained.

"Oh, yes, I'm doing absolutely nothing right now," Sarcasm is something I rarely use, but right now, I was enjoying every word that left my mouth.

"I'll get it, Sir," Kane volunteered as he walked over to where I was still fighting for my life. By this time my master had his light-saber out and was working on distracting the training droid while Kane worked on my blind fold.

"Stand...still, Mars..." Kane said trying to get a hold of the blind fold.

"I'm trying!" I insisted.

"Um, Commander, it's not coming off," Kane reported and my master did not sound happy.

"Something must be wrong with the mechanics," he responded, although he didn't seem to be focused on us.

"Kane, take her out of here and get to the control room," My master instructed. "I'll keep this thing busy for as long as I can."

"Yes, Sir," Kane nodded.

"But master-"

"Just- Go!"

Kane took my hand and ran out of the training room, practically dragging me behind him.

I kept up best I could, but running around blind is harder than it looks. When Kane finally slowed down, I figured we were at our stop.

I forced the door open and we raced in to the control panel.

"Well, turn it off already!" I shouted.

"Which one is it, again?" Kane asked a little sheepishly. I could hear my Master still battling the droid from the monitor over the control panel.

"Oh, I'll do it!" I cried taking out my light-saber and igniting it. I turned it upside down in my hand and dug the blade into the control panel. I heard something spark, then something a little more comforting.

"Great job, Mars," My master congratulated me from the monitor. I exhaled slowly.

"Great to see that your still alive, Master," I replied turning on the microphone.

"That was nothing," he said teasingly.

"Hang on, I'll be right up."

"Will do!"

Suddenly, I felt someone turn me around and put their hands on my blind fold. Instead of having to fight it, it slipped right off, and I could see Kane standing in front of me.

"Better?" He asked tilting his head slightly and smiling.

"Much," I replied. "Best I've felt all...

I fought the sudden urge to pass out. Wait...why did I feel like...

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, my vision went black. Again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! It's Animalsandadjectives and I'm here to let everyone know that I've started a Twitter to keep bettertrack of my updates and stuff! So if your interested in knowing more about it, go to my profile, or go straight to the source!**

**Find me on Twitter: AnimalsonFanfic**

**Thanks, and enjoy chapter 5!**

**~Rate, Comment, Follow, Subscribe!~**

* * *

I slowly came to consciousness. The kind of consciousness where you can hear people talking around you, but you just don't feel like opening your eyes.

As I stayed a motionless heap, I could hear three voices surrounding me.

"Is she...gonna be ok?" The first voice registered in my semi-conscious brain as Kane's.

"She should be alright," A second voice assured. I didn't quite recognize it at first, but I soon realized that the automated voice belonged to a Med. Droid. "Her state is merely a result of blood loss."

"I should've gotten help for her sooner," the final voice said guiltily. It was my Master, Varian Kai.

"Don't blame yourself," Kane said.

"She's my padawan, Kane, my responsibility."

"I was there, I could've helped her too, but that's not what happened..." Kane tried to lighten the mood a little. "If she were conscious, she'd probably tell you that it wasn't your fault, and to get that thought through your thick skull...uh...Sir."

The room went silent for a moment, and I was almost moved to tears. _"That is exactly what I would've said, Kane,"_ I thought to myself, still not feeling strong enough to move.

After a little while, I heard my master chuckle a little. "That's probably a pretty accurate take on Mars there, Kane."

"Oh, sir, there's something I needed to talk to you about," Kane continued.

"About Mars?" My master asked.

"Well, sort of," Kane corrected.

"Should we take this outside then?"

"Nah, if she doesn't wake up she'll be fine. What I wanted to tell you about was-"

Suddenly I heard the door swish open and someone walked in.

"What happened? Is she alright?"

"Mac," Kane's voice held a suspiciously cold tone that made my half conscious mind reel with sudden question. Varian stayed quiet. "She's fine, just a little blood loss, that's all."

"Blood loss?!" Mac shouted. "What happened?"

"I said, she's fine, now stop shouting! Your probably creatin' all sorts of stress for her," That was the last thing Kane said before I heard the door slam shut.

"What was that all about?" My master asked questioningly.

"That's who I wanted to talk to you about, Commander," Kane began.

"Well, come on, spit it out."

"Ok, this isn't going to be easy, considering the fact that he's my brother, and one of Mars' most trusted soldiers," Kane paused once more before continuing. "Yesterday...when Mars was at the docking bay, Mac eventually did come back, but by that time, she had already fallen asleep. He seemed like his regular self, but staying out that late is not like him, so when I questioned him about it, he told me that admiral Quar sent him on an errand."

"The admiral doesn't have clearance to make orders like that..." My master said , gaining a little bit of that suspicious tone.

"I know, he seemed really uneasy, too,"

Everything went quiet again.

"So your saying you suspect him of lying?" My master asked.

"Oh I don't suspect, I **know** he was lyin', but what I do suspect him of is betrayin' us."

I nearly broke down at that point. My stomach rose into my chest and I felt like choking. I don't know if it was noticeable, but I could hear my masters faint whisper and the following sound of footsteps and a closing door.

"Mars," I sat up at my masters voice.

"How could this happen?" I almost scolded myself. "I don't- I don't understand," I shook my head to make sure this wasn't a dream.

"Hey, this isn't your fault, Mars," My master tried to convince me. "Mac made a conscious choice."

I looked up, my eyes dark and my tone stone cold. "You don't know if what Kane told you is true! I talked to Mac last night myself and-" I stopped myself remembering what happened and what Mac had said:

_"Why aren't you in your quarters, Mars?"_

_"I was waiting for you to...get back..."_

_"Yeah, ok...I'm back now, so get going..._

_now, Mars..."_

I wanted to believe that Mac was still a good guy. A good guy who was on a good team. My team.

"Mars?" My master stood next to me. "Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this-"

"No." I cut him off.

"Marsena, I know this is hard for you to take in but-"

"**No**," I said again. This time a little louder. "He's part of my team, my responsibility. I'll find out whats going on. It's your job to worry about where the Separatists are keeping the princess," I paused looking my master dead in the eye. "Let me handle this."

My master looked back at me, and I could sense that he was having a hard time deciding how to deal with the situation. "But your still very young, Mars...do you think-"

"Oh I think I can handle it alright," I sounded so confident that I forgot how shocked, upset, and scared I was. Kane was right when he said that Mac was one of the troopers I trusted most, which made it hard for me to cope with the fact that he might be a traitor.

"I have Kane here with me though, so I'll be ok, but you need to go find the princess and get her back from the Separatists."

Apparently I was pretty convincing, because not only did my master seemed convinced, but I seemed convinced myself. Varian nodded his head.

"Ok, but your first mission is to recover, then we'll talk strategy."

"Don't worry, master," I said smoothly. "Distraction is what we do best."


	6. Chapter 6

Day four of my master's absence, and Kane and I were getting no where with Mac.

I sat down in the communications room, and sighed to myself. If only my master were here...he'd know what to do...

Kane ran in looking like he had just run a marathon or something. I looked up expectantly.

"Find anything?" He asked, slowing down a bit and walking over to me.

"No...I'm out of luck...but I haven't checked in here yet...just taking a break," I laid my head down on the desk, resting my forehead on the surface of the hologram projector.

A burst of blue light shot out from the projectors base, and I jumped clear out of my seat. The hologram took the form of some one I knew all to well.

"Mac," I said, as Kane stood closer to watch.

"Who is he talking to?" Kane asked me. I fiddled with the hologram station a little to try and turn the sound on, but it was no use.

"I don't know...the sound system seems to be malfunctioning..."

"How about I just tell you?" a voice came from the door way that I recognized as the admiral's before I even looked up.

"Admiral," Kane stood at attention, and I rose slowly, and cautiously, keeping my eyes locked on Admiral Quar.

"You want to know? Then listen well, because I'm only going to say this once," The admiral stared at me, and my stomach flipped. I suddenly felt so sick that I could pass out. Again.

"I sent a transmission to Mac an hour before this was sent back to me," Admiral Quar began. "You were all out on the battle field risking your lives for that no good Alderaan princess, so it only makes sense that I didn't get it until afterwards."

"You have no right to talk about the princess that way!" I shouted, losing my temper just a little.

"I am the highest ranked person in this station, padawan, and I will talk anyway I want to about anyone," The Admiral glared at me.

"You still haven't told us what the hologram is saying," Kane kept his cool and gestured to the blue image that still flickered across the top of the projector.

"All you need to know is, your too late. Now if you come along quietly-" The admiral began.

"Your a traitor!" I cried. I went to grab my light-saber, but before I knew what was happening, a shock wave of electricity ran through my body. I screamed and dropped to the floor, only half conscious. Kane dropped to the floor next to me and before my vision went too blurry, I reached for my com-link and pressed the distress button.

"Mars, is there something wrong?" My master's voice buzzed. "Mar-" Admiral Quar stomped on my com-link, and it shattered into pieces. My arm didn't feel any better, and I decided at this point with what strength I had left, I'd...

"Thanks a lot "Addy", that was my light-saber arm you just-" I screamed again as another shock wave entered my body, and my vision went black.


	7. Chapter 7

I opened my eyes wearily, and tried to stretch. For some reason, though, my arms wouldn't move, one felt as if it were broken, and it hurt when I struggled against whatever was keeping my hands restrained. After a few minutes of me rolling around what was obviously a holding cell, I heard a familiar voice.

"Calm down there, Mars."

I looked up and saw Kane in a similar situation.

"What happened?" I asked, using a nearby wall to prop myself up.

"It would seem as though the Admiral is calling all the shots now," he answered.

"Admiral Quar..." I chuckled to myself. "I never did like him..." Kane joined in for a bit, and then everything became quiet again.

"So...how do you suggest we escape?" Kane looked at me.

"I wouldn't suggest escaping at all if you don't want to get killed," A voice said from the other side of the cell.

"Mac," I sneered. "I should have known you were a traitor."

He chuckled slyly and deactivated the orange plasma shield that acted as the cell's door. He walked over to me, and leaned forward, practically ripping the blue pearl that was placed in the middle of my ornamental hair-piece out. He tossed it into the air and caught it again, this time closing his hand around it and turning around to leave.

"Wait!" I cried after him. "How many are left?"

"How many what are left?" He asked confusedly.

"How many of my men are left?" I asked more specifically.

"About ten, counting "Mr. Big Shot" over there."

Kane sneered at Mac, who left the cell. The orange shield was activated automatically as soon as he left.

"This is just great!" Kane cried. "We'll never get out of here!"

"That's not true..." I said sitting up straight against the wall. I tried to lift my body off the ground, and run my bound hands underneath so once they were in front of me I could use the force to break us out some how. I struggled however and one of the guards caught drift of what I was trying to do. He walked over to a control panel stationed outside the cell. Shortly after he did, a wave of electricity ran through me once more at an alarming velocity. In the past week, I had been shot, electrified, broken, and bruised, and this was not going to cut it with me. An idea hit me as the pain continued.

_"The control panel for the door is on the wall..."_ I though to myself._ "Maybe if I could just get over there..."_

The violent jolt of electricity had vanished before I could act on my plan, but it was such a good plan, I just had too...

"Is that all you got?" My voice was a little weaker than expected and Kane looked extremely confused.

"Um, Mars, this isn't really the time to be sarcastic..."

I ignored Kane's comment, but responded mentally._ "This is the perfect time to be sarcastic."_

"I didn't even feel that one," I lied and found a way to use my hands to work myself across the room at a slow steady pass, so I wasn't recognized again. Wait. Maybe I wanted to be recognized...

"Kane!" I shouted. "I know how to get out of here! Follow-" I screamed one last time. This was the strongest wave of energy that had been put in my body and I didn't know how long I could hold up.

_"Almost there..."_ I thought weakly. _"just a few more inches..."_ I rammed myself into the wall that held the panel on it.

"Ow..." I complained. The electricity faded and what strength I had left, failed me.

Suddenly, I heard what at sounded like punching and kicking outside the cell doors. I wasya little to weak to get a better view of the fight, but after a while it got quiet.

"Still working on an escape plan there, Mars?" A friendly and familiar voice teased from the other side of the orange field.

I groaned as a sort of response. "Yep, you and I should switch places some time, you'd have a blast in here!" My tone was nothing but sarcastic.

My master chuckled and deactivate the door. he walked in and crouched over to undo the binds that held Kane's hands together, then stood up and walked over to undo mine.

"Nice to see you took your time, Master," I smiled weakly.

"I did come rescue you, didn't I?"

"Don't get too comfortable there, master," I stood up and walked out of the cell, followed by Kane and Varian.

Before leaving the control room of the holding facility, I walked over to the cell that now held Admiral Quar, and Mac.

"I'll be back to deal with both of you...sooner or later."

As soon as I stepped out into the holding facility's control center, I stopped dead in my tracks.

There, in the middle of the room, was me, except I was here. She had the same hair color, same skin tone, same eyes...

same outfit?!

"Who is this?" I turned around to look at my master.

He smiled at my reaction and walked over to the girl.

"Mars, meet, Dania Pettris, Princess of Alderaan," My master was clearly enjoying my reaction to this whole "she looks like me" thing, but I wasn't.

"Why is she here?" I asked.

"Well, let's see if you can figure that out," Varian handed me an outfit and I looked at it then looked back at him.

"Your kidding me, right?" I glared at him.

"Isn't master Kai just the most brilliant at coming up with plans?" Princess Dania squealed.

"Uh-huh..." I nodded and walked over to my master Grabbing him by the arm and dragging him off. "Come on "Master Kai". We need to talk."


End file.
